Wars of Religion
Last Updated    12/26/2007     12/17/2005

The ruler and people of each country were expected to belong to the same church.
Differences in religion led to wars between countries,
Under Elizabeth I, England became the leading Protestant Power.
Spain was the leading Catholic power.
Religious wars lasted from the end of the 1500s to 1648.

The Armada
Phillip II's Plan
Philip knew that if he conquered England Protestant Europe would be open to Catholic control.
In 1587 King Philip II of Spain drew up plans for war against Queen Elizabeth.
A huge fleet, or armada of 130 ships was to sail up the English Channel to the Netherlands.
Their main purpose was to ferry troops across the English Channel.
It would be joined by an army of 30,000 men and take them to the English coast.
They would land and invade England returning it to the Catholic religion.

Drake's Surprise
In 1587, The Spanish gathered a fleet in Cadiz harbor.
They were ready to invade England.
Drake sailed into the harbor and destroyed over 20 of the Spanish warships.
Drake called this the "singeing of the King of Spain's beard".  

The Armada Sails
1588 May, the Armada left Lisbon.
Armada was composed of 130 ships, 8,000 sailors and 18,000 soldiers.
They also had 1,500 brass guns and 1,000 iron guns.
An army of 30,000 men stood in the Spanish Netherlands.
They where waiting for the fleet to arrive to be ferried across the Ebglish Channel.
Soain's army would be 55,000 men.
The Armada ran into a storm and lost supplies.



The English Attack
The English fleet was led by Lord Howard and Sir Francis Drake.
21 July 1588, the English attacked the Armada near Plymouth.
The Spanish tried to escape but knew they were trapped.
They decided to drop anchor near Calais harbor.
That night Drake and Howard sent eight fireships towards Calais harbor.
This broke the curved formation of the Spanish ships.
The Spaniards were afraid and cut their anchor ropes and fled out to sea.



Battle of Gravelines
When the battle began the Spaniards were already beginning to fall.
Spanish gunners had not been trained to relaod.
Their tatic was to fire once and then jump to the rigging prepared to board the enemy ship.
The English stayed out of range and then moved in.
The English fired repeated broadsides into the Spanish ships.
Most of the Spanish ammunition was never used.
The cannon shot was not the same size as their cannons.
The English fleet of 197 ships destroyed 11 Spanish ships and damaged many more.
The Spaniards were beaten.

English Victory
12 August, the English ships were almost out of ammunition.
They continued to harass the Spainsh.
The Spanish were thirsty and tired.
The only option was to return home.
Their only way home was to sail north around Scotland and then into the Atlantic Ocean.
They ran into two storms caused by the effects of the Little Ice Age.
Many Spanish ships wrecked on the northern coats.
English soldiers killed most.
Just 60 ships and 10,000 survivors made it back to Spain.

Huguenots
In the 1500s, most people in France were Catholics.
Many nobles, lawyers, doctors, and merchants were Protestants.
They followed the teachings of John Calvin.
1534, King Francis I forbids the Huguenots from worshipping freely.
Catholics began to persecute Huguenots.
1562, a civil war breaks out.
Charles IX became king.


His mother, Catherine de Medici ruled for him.
She decided to support the Catholics.
Charles IX is convinced to kill the Huguenots.
22 August 1752, attempted assasination of Coligny.
He was a Huguenot leader and a French Admiral.
He goes home to recover.
23 August 1752, led by Guises, Coligny is killed, beheaded, and thrown into the street.




St Bartholomews' Day Massacre
1572 August 24, she allowed Cartholic nobles to kill the leading Huguenots.
Her daughter was to marry Henry Navarre, the leader of the Huguenots.
Most Protestant nobles came to the wedding.
Hired assasins attacked and murdered them all except Henry and another heir.
At the same time, mobs of Catholics Parisians turned on their Protestant neighbors.
Thousands were slaughtered and their homes were burned.
The killing spread to the countryside.
10,000 Huguenots were killed in the next six weeks.
Many Protestants left France.


Catherine de' Medici received the congratulations of all the Catholic powers.
The Pope commanded a gold medal to be minted.
It was inscribed with the inscription, "Slaughter [strages] of the Huguenots."

Henry IV of France
1589, the king of France was assaisinated.
Henry of Navarre became Henry IV.
Henry IV converted to the Catholic religion.
Henry endd the fighting between Catholics and Protestants.
Catholicism became the national religion.
He made life easier for Protestants.
1598, he signed the Eddict of Nates.
This gave Huguenots freedom of worship.
France became the first country to allow two Christian religions.

The Low Countries
The Low Counties were part of the Spanish Empire.
The people were of both relgions.
neither group liked Philip II's harsh rule.
they did not like the heavy taxes.
Philip made money from the wealth and trade of the Low Countries.
Philip wanted all of his subjects to be Catholics.
Philip set up an Inquisition in the Low Countries to end the Protestant religion.
1567, Protestants in the northern provinces revlt.
Philip sent soldiers and French subjects from the sountern provinces.
1648, the fighting ends.
Sountern provinces (Belgium) were to remain Catholic and under Spainish control.
The northern provinces (Netherlands) were to be an independent Protestant country.

Bibliography
Greenblatt, Miriam, and Lemmo, Peter. Human Heritage A World History. Columbus, Ohio: McGraw-Hill, 2001.

Meyer, Ronald Bruce. :Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre (1572)."  26 Dec. 2007. http://ronaldbrucemeyer.com/rants/0824almanac.htm.

"Not Peace But a Sword on St. Bartholomews' Day."  Christian History Institute. 2007  26 Dedc. 2007.  http://chi.gospelcom.net/DAILYF/2001/08/daily-08-23-2001.shtml.

Ross, David. "The Spanish Aramada." Britain Express. 26 Dec. 2007.  http://www.britainexpress.com/History/tudor/armada.htm.

"Spanish Armada." Wikipedia On Line Encuclopedia. 25 Dec. 2007.  26 Dec. 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Armada.

"Spanish Armada 1588." The Other Side. 26 Dec. 2007.  http://www.theotherside.co.uk/tm-heritage/background/span-armada.htm.